Tuesday 14 February 2012

Update

I've been forgetting to update and friends keep asking, so...

dad's doing well and only needs check ups every six months now. Mom has recovered well from her surgery, but her back still gives her a lot of pain. So she's walking easily, but still can't stand for long, which is frustrating for her. Hubby is being kept busy... by me. lol I need help a lot, since my fingers don't feel properly I drop small things all the time. I'm lethal with teaspoons!


Mostly, I'm doing ok, because I'm resting my hands-wrists more and the medication I'm on does work. I know that because I forgot my afternoon tablets a while back and... owwwOWWW. So, yes, I now know that the medication helps. LOL

I wear wrist splints at night. They are uncomfy and make sleeping awkward, but I can sleep the whole night again, which is WONDERFUL. Last year the lack of sleep turned me into a zombie..



Nowadays I'm a LOT more human! ;-)

In the morning my hands are fairly numb and then the pins-needles kicks in bad, for maybe two hours. I have that now, but if I type really slow and use my ring and middle fingers to type I manage ok. Plus if I just dangle my arms it eases off. So I stop maybe every paragraph and just rest till I can write again. :-)

The things that start my hands hurting are anything where I put stress or impact on my wrists, but the medication has helped a lot. Before Christmas, when the meds were new and I didn't have the wrist splints, driving in the car was very painful, because of the vibration. Now I can go for two hours in the car and not feel any discomfort. Now it takes fairly big things, like chopping veggies or stirring food, to hurt. So hubby does all stirring, chopping, peeling in cookery as well as lifting heavy things, turning bottle caps and even stirring my coffee (see teaspoons above to understand the danger there!).

The doctor has sent a letter to the hospital to set up surgery for me, but I have no idea when that will be. Otherwise life is very quiet. With driving hurting and fuel prices soaring we haven't been going out on drives for months, so I'm not getting to take any new photos. My photo for this month is actually one I took last year in February. The quiet is nice. Last year was mad. At one stage my calendar showed that we were averaging three doctor's appointments a week! After almost two years of that craziness having a whole month (this February) with only two appointments (mom and dad) is bliss. ;-)




3 comments:

  1. I'm glad to know everything is going better and better in your household...hope your Mom's back pain lessens over time and hoping that your surgery is scheduled sooner than later!

    (((HUGS)))

    ReplyDelete
  2. (((Michelle))) I am so glad things are getting better for you and your family!

    Is your Mom seeing a physical therapist? It is not unusual for folks to have back pain following hip replacement - usually it's from muscles that are being used in new ways because hips are no longer hurting. There is a great web site with lots of information about do-it-yourself physical therapy if your Mom is not able to see one. It's called BoneSmart http://bonesmart.org/joint-replacement-surgery/ It's not necessary to sign on and become a member to check out their library and great collection of articles. There may be some exercises she could do to strengthen the back muscles and ease her pain.

    I sure hope the surgery for your hands can get schedule - and that it brings blessed relief to this problems for you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Amel

    ((hug))

    Hi deb
    Mom found your reply before I did (lol) and has saved all the info to check out. Thank you from both of us! :-)

    ((hugs))

    ReplyDelete

Hi,

Older posts are moderated to stop spammers, so replies will go up, but please be patient. :)